Dollar Shave Club no longer Cruelty-Free??

Saturday, 23 July 2016

Sorry I have been M.I.A lately on my blog, I feel kind of bad about it but I'd rather post actual content rather than some not great filler posts. I thought I would just make a quick post to see everyone's opinion on some latest news involving Dollar Shave Club.

If you have been following me for awhile, you would know I love Dollar Shave Club. I even have a review on their 4x razor and even though I state that I am hesitant on the subscription service, I did not unsubscribe the entire time.. Until the other day.

Why you ask? Well, I got the bad news from a Cruelty-Free Facebook Group that Unilever bought Dollar Shave Club for $1 billion. Yes. So, as a cautious cruelty-free shopper I automatically thought, ok I am done. Unilever = bad. I instantly cancelled my subscription from the affordable razor service and shared the discovery onto another cruelty-free/vegan beauty page specifically for Australians and New Zealanders.

The majority of women and men were absolutely devo about the news and a lot of them also said they have cancelled their subscription due to this discovery. But looking further into it and another opinion or two that came to me about what this means for Dollar Shave Club, I started questioning my decision.

As Fortune Article states that the CEO of DSC (Dollar Shave Club) "will continue to run the company, which will operate its direct-to-consumer razor business as an independent entity." So with this, it is possible that DSC will not change anything about their practices for production as they are still running independently from Unilever. So essentially, still cruelty-free? But you will still be putting money towards the not cruelty-free company, Unilever. This is definitely a similar issue to say, Urban Decay and NYX owned by L'Oreal. Some people decide to still purchase them as they're cruelty-free, whereas others (a.k.a. me) do not purchase either of the brands as they ultimately financially support a company that allows Animal Testing for their products.

Another point that was made was that if you decided to stop purchasing from a cruelty-free and vegan brand just because they were owned by a company that tests, is the equivalent to not purchasing anything cruelty-free and/or vegan from the supermarket because that same supermarket sells animal products. Which is a good point. But also a rebuttal to that is that it's easier to avoid cosmetic and personal hygiene products compare to avoiding an entire supermarket.

The point of this post is pretty much to ask what others think of the issue and what they'd do if they were subscribed to DSC. Would you cancel your subscription, or continue to as they are still technically cruelty-free at the moment (unless they change their practices)? Please leave your opinions in the comments below!